Interesting rumours have surfaced, suggesting Mikael Arteta could replace Pep Guardiola as the head coach at Manchester City. However, the news are not suggesting what it may seem at first.
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While it would be easy to think Pep Guardiola is leaving Man City to be replaced by Mikel Arteta, that cannot be further from the truth. Guardiola is obviously happy where he is now and it would be safe to say the team is happy with him as the head coach as well. That being said, Pep Guardiola did praise Mikel Arteta, claiming he is an exceptional assistant manager, who he believes will succeed him as a manager of the Sky Blues one day in the future. When that might be remains to be seen, however, there are strong arguments to make Mikel Arteta will surely take over Manchester City or another big football club in the not so distant future.
The Spaniard, who has had a very successful football career became an assistant at Man City in 2016 when he hung up his boots and decided to retire as a player. Ever since Arteta joined Man City as a replacement for Domenec Torrent, who left for New York City, he serves as de facto number two to Guardiola, playing a big role in Guardiola’s successful coaching of the Sky Blues. Having spent three years at Man City, Arteta did not need long to be recognised as an exceptional assistant manager, which is also something Pep Guardiola noticed and decided to make it publicly known. It is worth noting Arteta was already offered a job at Arsenal, following the departure of Wegner, yet, he decided to remain at the Ethiad for the foreseeable future, where he is happy as an assistant manager.
“I’m pretty sure he’ll succeed me. He will have success,” Guardiola said in an interview, talking about Mikel Arteta.
“He’s helped me a lot. From day one, so not just the last two seasons, from day one. He has an incredible work ethic, and he has a special talent to analyse what happens, and to find the solutions.”
When asked if he (Guardiola) believes Arteta could leave Man City to chase his coaching career, he answered with:
“He’s a young manager, he’s 37, so he is so young but he has experience already to handle big players and teams and when it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. “
Arteta was also youth team player at Barcelona in Guardiola’s final years as a Barcelona player before he left for Brescia in 2001. In that short span of time, Guardiola already got to see Arteta as a player and he believes Arteta’s successful career as a player helped him develop his incredible work ethic, talent and vision, which allows him to analyse everything that is happening on the pitch at all times and finds a solution quickly.
While Arteta received a lot of praise from Man City boss, he will still need to wait a bit longer for a chance to replace Guardiola at the Sky Blues, seeing how Guardiola made it clear this summer he is not planning on leaving England for at least two years. That being said, there will be other opportunities opening up for Arteta, who could once again receive an offer to take over one of the bigger European clubs. Will he take the offer or remain loyal to Man City remains to be seen, however, we can be sure there will be no shortage of manager position offers on his table.
